This Monday, Rwanda marks World Tuberculosis Day 2025 in Kayonza District to raise awareness among the general population about effective prevention, early diagnosis and treatment. The theme, “Yes, we can end TB“, calls on all those involved in the fight against TB to unite their efforts and find adequate financial resources to end TB.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease that is a major cause of morbidity and death. It is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of death from a single infectious disease (ahead of HIV/AIDS). Most of these deaths could be prevented with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
According to the World Health Organization, 8.2 million people worldwide suffered from TB in 2023. A total of 1.25 million people died of TB in 2023 (including 161,000 people living with HIV). On the other hand, 10.8 million people worldwide contracted TB in the same year, including 5.9 million men, 3.6 million women and 1.3 million children.
Rwanda has made significant progress in the fight against tuberculosis in recent years. The following are brief highlights of some key achievements:
. TB incidence decreased from 96 cases per 100,000 population in 2000 to 55 cases per 100,000 population in 2023, according to the Global TB Report 2024. Rwanda now has the lowest TB incidence in the East African region,
. Overall, in terms of TB notification during FY 2023-2024, the total number of all TB cases diagnosed was 8,551 including 92 RR/MDR TB cases.
. TB notification improved from 91% in 2022 to 121% in FY 2023,
. Community health workers contributed to 31.4% of all TB patients in FY 2023-2024,
. The treatment success rate (outcome) for susceptible TB (DS) was 90% and 91.3% for drug resistant (DR) TB patients,
. From November 2019 to December 2024, 220,668 PLHIV received TB preventive treatment, representing 96.6% of all HIV programme participants.
. Since the end of 2021, tuberculosis prevention among household contacts of TB patients aged 5 years and above has been implemented, and 91% of those eligible were started on
tuberculosis prevention in FY 2023-2024.
Despite the progress made in the fight against TB, more efforts are still needed in raising the public’s knowledge aboutTB disease. As per the Rwanda Demographic Health Survey 2020 findings, only 68% of people interviewed had good knowledge about tuberculosis transmission.
The World TB Day is observed on March 24th each year to raise awareness about the devastating impact of TB and to call for increased investment in TB prevention and care. The day commemorates the discovery of the TB bacillus by Dr. Robert Koch in 1882, which paved the way for the development of diagnostic tests and treatments for TB.